Information Services Division

ISD Scotland is part of NHS National Services Scotland

About ISD

Scotland has some of the best health service data in the world. Few other countries have information which combines high quality data, consistency, national coverage and the ability to link data to allow patient based analysis and follow up. The Information Services Division (ISD) is a division of National Services Scotland, part of NHS Scotland. ISD provides health information, health intelligence, statistical services and advice that support the NHS in progressing quality improvement in health and care and facilitates robust planning and decision making.

What's New in ISD?

The Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare

The Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare (SCTT), on behalf of the Scottish Government's Technology Enabled Care Programme, recently commissioned the Information Services Division (ISD) of NSS Scotland to bring together data to provide key intelligence to assist local planning, support transformation programmes and commissioning for Long Term Conditions in Scotland.

Complimenting previous work in this area, this new suite of reports , national projection tables and board projection tables, provides a much sharper focus by examining specific disease prevalence in the context of demographic change projections for the next 15 years. The results are both informative and stark. They can be accessed at https://sctt.org.uk/programmes/home-and-mobile-monitoring/long-term-conditions/.

NHS Performs - Latest update

NHS Performs is a website which brings together a range of information on how hospitals and NHS Boards within NHSScotland are performing. It aims to provide this information in an easy to access, clear and understandable way.

NHS Performs has been updated to include information on:

Emergency Department activity for the week ending 6 August 2017

Numbers of hospital wards closed with confirmed or presumed Norovirus infections on 7 August 2017

Recently a user engagement survey was carried out and the results will soon be published.

Following on from the results of the user engagement survey, user feedback will be taken on board and the following updates will soon be implemented to the NHS Performs website:

The data extract is presented as downloadable text (.csv) file and covers practice level prescribing for the month of May 2017. A dashboard will also available to enable preview the data without downloading the large file. The data extract will also feed into existing dashboards which present historical data already published elsewhere on the ISD website (in the July 2017 Summary stats dashboard).

Over the last decade there has been a 37% increase in the number of hip and knee replacements performed in Scotland, from 11,189 in 2005 to 15,328 in 2016.

The number of patients readmitted due to clots in the leg or lung (Deep Vein Thrombosis/ Pulmonary Embolism) within 90 days or infection within 1 year of surgery has fallen for both complications from 1.5% in 2001 to 0.8% in 2015; however the number of patients experiencing temporary kidney failure within 30 days of surgery has increased in recent years.

33 patients (0.2%) who had a hip or knee replacement in 2016 died within 90 days of their operation, which is similar to the mortality rate within the general population.

282 patients (2.2%) who had a hip or knee replacement in 2011 had revision surgery within 5 years.

In June 2017, 39,252 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed.

This is equivalent to an average of 1,308 beds occupied per day in June 2017. In May, the daily average was 1,279.

At the June 2017 census point, there were 1,300 people delayed.

Of these, 1,057 were delayed more than three days. The most common reason for delays over three days was health and social care reasons (727), followed by complex needs (292) then patient and family-related reasons (38).

The total number of planned operations across NHSScotland during June 2017 was 29,601, a decrease of 6.9% from 31,785 during June 2016.

2,606 operations (8.8% of planned operations) were cancelled in June 2017, ranging from 5.9% to 11.7% across individual NHS Boards. This compares to 3,004 (9.5%) in June 2016.

Of all planned operations: 1,110 (3.7%) were cancelled by the patient; 960 (3.2%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons; 476 (1.6%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons; 60 (0.2%) were cancelled due to other reasons.

The Indicator of Relative Need or ioRN is a data collection tool originally designed in 2003 by and for health and care professionals. By addressing function, need and outcomes it offers information that is essential yet, until now, difficult to gather routinely. This report explains why and how an initiative to re-design the original ioRN was carried out and documents the design, testing and launch of ioRN2.

For people with breast, colorectal or lung cancer, 25.5% were diagnosed at the earliest stage (stage 1). This is a 9.2% increase from the baseline (2010 and 2011 combined) which is below the Local Delivery Plan standard of 25%.

Among patients diagnosed with breast, colorectal and lung cancer living in the most deprived areas of Scotland, the highest proportion (29.4%) were diagnosed at stage 4, the most advanced stage of disease. Among those living in the least deprived areas, the highest proportion (28.6%) were diagnosed at stage 2.

For people with breast, colorectal or lung cancer in the most deprived areas, 23.8% were diagnosed at the earliest stage (stage 1). This is a 17.4% increase from the baseline.

There has been an improvement in the recording of the data with fewer patients being recorded with a not known stage of disease – a baseline of 8.4% compared with 5.3% for the latest time period.

The data extract is presented as downloadable text (.csv) file and covers practice level prescribing for the month of April 2017. A dashboard will also available to enable preview the data without downloading the large file. The data extract will also feed into existing dashboards which present historical data already published elsewhere on the ISD website (in the June 2017 Summary stats dashboard).

Teenage pregnancies continue to decline: rates in the under 20s have dropped from the most recent peak of 57.7 per 1,000 women in 2007 to 32.4 in 2015, a decrease of 43.8%.

Teenagers from deprived areas are more likely to get pregnant: women aged under 20 and living in the most deprived areas had pregnancy rates five times higher than those in the least deprived (62.1 compared to 11.6 per 1,000 women).

Teenagers from deprived areas are more likely to deliver, while those in the least deprived areas are more likely to terminate their pregnancy.

Younger teenagers (under 16s) are more likely to have a termination than a delivery, while older teenagers (under 18s and under 20s) are more likely to have a delivery than a termination.

In May 2017, 39,651 days were spent in hospital by people whose discharge was delayed.

This is equivalent to an average of 1,279 beds occupied per day in May 2017. In April, the daily average was 1,364.

At the May 2017 census point, there were 1,286 people delayed.

Of these, 1,015 were delayed more than three days. The most common reason for delays over three days was health and social care reasons (670), followed by complex needs (299) then patient and family-related reasons (46).

The total number of planned operations across NHSScotland during May 2017 was 29,997, a decrease of 3.0% from 30,924 during May 2016.

2,631 operations (8.8% of planned operations) were cancelled in May 2017, ranging from 6.3% to 11.8% across individual NHS Boards. This compares to 2,849 (9.2%) in May 2016.

Of all planned operations: 1,053 (3.5%) were cancelled by the patient; 1,001 (3.3%) were cancelled based on clinical reasons by the hospital; 512 (1.7%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons; 65 (0.2%) were cancelled due to other reasons.

Media Monitoring

If you would like to know more about what is going on in the health service, you may be interested in Information Services Library's media monitoring service. This provides twice daily updates on health related stories being reported in the Scottish media.

National Data Catalogue

The National Data Catalogue (NDC) is a single definitive resource of information on Scottish Health and Social Care datasets that incorporates the Data Dictionary, information on the National Datasets and New Developments.

ISD is a division of NHS NSS
Working at the very heart of the health service, NSS delivers services critical to frontline patient care and in support of the efficient and effective operation of NHS Scotland. Visit the NSS Website for more information